Jan 26 How to Avoid a Wasted Life

I’ve always loved this quote my pastor often refers back to,“Seek not to avoid a wounded life, but rather seek to avoid a wasted one.”

And, it’s been present in my thoughts even more so lately as we finish up the first month of this new year, and life attempts to drag us back into old patterns and habits. The newness has started to wear off, and it’s easy to let that fresh hope slip through our fingers. The purposes we may have set out to achieve can easily begin to appear blurry.

There’s a lot of talk, especially around the new year, about finding our purpose…living our purpose, or making it a year of purposeful living. And these purpose driven talks and essays and motivational speeches often come with steps and tips and even programs you can sign up for to learn exactly how to make it all happen for you. I’ve listened and watched and even felt inspired by many, but as I continue to seek the Lord and his heart in all of it, I seem to continually come back to the simplicity of it all.

I agree that we all have a purpose and that God has a direction for each our lives, and yes, that absolutely may look different from the lives others around us are living. How amazing that we have a beautifully creative God who has created each of us differently with unique gifts and talents to serve Him. But that’s where I believe the complicated ends, and the simplicity begins.

Our purpose, is simple.

Our purpose, as God serving women and mothers, is to love God, to love others, and to make his name known.Period.

How that plays out absolutely may look different, and how that looks throughout various stages of our own lives, as mothers, may look different as well. But if we aren’t careful to live out whatever stage God may have us in at the moment with a true heart of obedience and purposeful worship, when we do set out to live and seek our “passions,” even those will quickly begin to feel empty and meaningless as well.

Because it’s not our passions that give us our worth or meaning, it’s our hearts and who our focus is on, that bring true purpose and joy and contentment, despite our circumstances.

So whether we work, whether we stay home, whether we work while we stay at home…

In the difficult, in the beautiful, in the simplicity and even in the often overlooked and underappreciated tasks we live out day to day as moms…In all of those moments and more, if we just choose to have a heart of worship, if we simply remember who and what we were created for, we have arrived.

We will be living our purpose.We will have discovered our passion.

And so I wanted to encourage each of us today, as the first month of the New Year draws to a close, to pause and reflect on and to truly remember our purpose and what ultimately matters.

So my question not just for you guys, for just as much for myself, is what steps can we take this week…this month…this moment, to truly ensure that we are living out of worship, reflecting his love and ultimately doing all that we can to avoid living a wasted life?

And even more so, how can we bring our children and our families into that life as well?

Psalm 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Summer is one of those women who certainly isn’t trying to hide anything — except maybe what is behind her beloved bangs. She is refreshingly open about her mommy meltdowns (she has 2 children, but one is strong willed, so it’s more like 4), her faith, and her obsession with bargain shopping and makeup/skincare hauls. But, whether it’s through writing, speaking, or the missions work her & her family do, Summer’s greatest passion is connecting with others. And she does this by being open and honest, all while trying to find the humor and lesson in it all.

Summer is one of those women who certainly isn’t trying to hide anything — except maybe what is behind her beloved bangs. She is refreshingly open about her mommy meltdowns (she has 2 children, but one is strong willed, so it’s more like 4), her faith, and her obsession with bargain shopping and makeup/skincare hauls. But, whether it’s through writing, speaking, or the missions work her & her family do, Summer’s greatest passion is connecting with others. And she does this by being open and honest, all while trying to find the humor and lesson in it all.